Indicted lawmaker: May have had unwitting Ponzi scheme role

Sep. 13, 2017

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A state senator under a fraud indictment for involvement in a now-defunct oil field services company now says the company "might have been a Ponzi scheme."

State Sen. Carlos Uresti has pleaded not guilty to fraud and bribery-related charges. The San Antonio Express-News reports he testified Tuesday in a San Antonio bankruptcy court that he and his legal team investigated FourWinds Logistics in the wake of his indictment to learn the reason for his indictment. He testified that only then did he learn that "it appears that it might have been a Ponzi scheme."

Such a scheme is an investment fraud that pays existing investors from the contributions of new investors and telling them they were returns on their investments.